On an evening when one of its much-discussed capital improvement plan projects ran into a roadblock elsewhere, the Baldwin City Council voted to move forward with another.

On Monday, the council voted 3-2 to approve a resolution authorizing the city to move forward with a $3.2 million public utilities building. Councilmen Tony Brown, Steve Bauer and David Simmons voted for the resolution, while Councilwomen Christi Darnell and Kathy Gerstner voted no.

Brad Smith, city financial director, said he would return to the council with a resolution authorizing a bond sale at a later date. It is estimated that construction costs for the new building will be $2.8 million. The extra money approved in the resolution is to cover bond costs and financing and to provide a cushion against inflation.

Although the measure that passed Monday states the public utilities building will be financed with general obligation bonds, meaning they are backed by all city revenues, the debt is to be retired through utility rate revenue. No referendum will be needed for the city to issue the bond because the debt retirement will not require a dedicated mill levy or sales tax.

Smith said it would take about $218,000 a year to retire the debt, which would be split between the city’s electrical, water and sewer departments. The debt retirement was considered in current rates or in utility rate studies underway, he said.

What had been called a public works building was among the projects the council has been considering since 2014. Lawrence architect Jay Zimmerschied shared in August 2015 a conceptual plan for the structure, which is to be built in the northeast corner of the city’s Orange Street yard. With Monday’s decision, Zimmerschied will complete bid-ready plans for the building.

The goal is to break ground on the building in spring 2017 and open the facility in spring 2018, Smith said.

The plan Zimmerschied presented last year would build an 18,278-square-foot complex at the Orange Street yard. The public utilities building would be located on the north end of the property and east of the driveway to the electrical and sewer plants.

As envisioned in the plans, the new complex would provide 4,390 square feet of office space, a 52 percent increase from the 2,880 square feet now available at the Public Works Department’s downtown headquarters. The complex would also have three vehicle parking bays, two bays for maintenance and five for general storage. That part of the building would total 13,888 square feet, doubling the space available at the downtown complex.

Other projects on the capital improvement list the council considered and their estimated costs are an $1.8 million police station and $500,000 in upgrades to City Hall. The council also approved a Feb. 7, 2017, referendum on a half-cent sales tax that is to provide half the funding for a new community center.

As the council was voting Monday to move forward with the public utilities building, the Baldwin City school board voted to table a request that it raise the Baldwin City Recreation Commission’s property tax authority by 2.75 mills to pay for the other half of the community center. The board will next consider that request at its Oct. 17 meeting, but it was clear from Monday’s board meeting that three of the six board members voting on the issue oppose the mill levy increase (board member Greg Kruger recused himself from the decision because he is a member of the BCRC board).

In other business, the council:

• Heard from Smith that he would present to them a plan to change how sewer utility fees are calculated. The city currently sets fees from water use in the winter months of December, January and February when residents are not watering lawns or washing cars, which are uses in which water flows into sanitary sewers. Smith said he would request the city change to calculating fees based on water use from October through March.

• Approved a franchise agreement with Valu-Net, which allows the Emporia-based cable television provider to provide cable TV in conjunction with the gigabit internet service RG Fiber is installing in the community. The agreement gives Valu-Net the right to use city right of way to extend service to customers. Valu-Net last month received Kansas Corporation Commission authority to expand its service footprint into Baldwin City.